Glenfield to Leppington Rail Line Edmondson Park, NSW

Project featuring the RECo TerraPlus® System.

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General Information

The South West Rail Link is a NSW Government initiative to respond to issues of reliability and passenger growth on the metropolitan rail network and population growth in south-west Sydney. The South West Rail Link includes a major upgrade of Glenfield Station and bus/rail interchange and a new twin track passenger rail line from Glenfield to Leppington via Edmondson Park. Construction of the South West Rail Link commenced at Glenfield in August 2009. Retaining Solutions was engaged for the construction of the Glenfield Junction alliance Northern Flyover.

The Glenfield to Leppington Rail Line Project was awarded to John Holland as a design/Construct package comprising:

- A new train stabling facility at Rossmore; and Rail systems including signalling and train control, power supply, sectioning huts, substations, overhead wiring, ancillary facilities, and other infrastructure required for the operation and maintenance of rail services and infrastructure.

Benefits

Benefits of the South West Rail Link will: provide essential infrastructure for the predicted future increases in population in Sydney's south-west, including the South West Growth Centre; improve access to public transport for the people of south-west Sydney, providing a link to major employment centres including Liverpool, Parramatta and the Sydney CBD; allow increased and more reliable train services; provide increased commuter car parking spaces; provide modern, safe and accessible stations and interchange facilities for rail commuters.

The Reinforced Earth Company was the successful tenderer for the design and supply of the RECo TerraPlus® system for both the piled bridge abutments and associated wing walls.

A key aspect of this reinforced earth application was the ability of the system to

cater for the heavy live loads in addition to longitudinal/transverse loads imposed from the bridge. Forces due to the combined effects of shrinkage creep and thermal movement of the bridge deck also had to be absorbed by the reinforced soil zone. The associated bearing pressure loadings at the underside of the crash barrier loading varied from 25kPa to 180kPa under dead load & live load impact. Such loads dictated the use of an “in-extensible soil reinforcement/positive connection system”. Seismic loads were also to be catered by the RSW system.

Prior to commencement of work on this project all staff had to complete GLRL project induction, Pegasus & RISI Card inductions; in addition all operators to complete Verification of Competency (VOC) assessments by HPA Training prior to operation of any plant. All plant & equipment had to meet GLRL & JHG Pre-Delivery requirements.

Safety

Retaining Solutions worked in with John Holland in relation to Health, Safety and the Environment management for the job. Retaining Solutions developed a specific Safety Management Plan for the job while being adaptable and assisting John Holland meet their management system requirements in relation to their Global Mandatory Requirements (GMRs) for safety. We worked in close communication by using 3DSS as a platform for information sharing and participating on the ground by developing Activity Method Statements (AMS) and Task Risk Assessments (TRA) as the job progressed.

Scope of Works

Retaining Solutions scope of works involved the installation of RECo TerraPlus™ panels, REHas reinforcing strips, non-woven geotextile to all vertical/horizontal joints, excavation/geotextile encapsulated gravel chimney drains at rear of RSW zone. The chimney drains consisted of a 1500mm deep heel drain with the use of the Megaflo® geocomposite drainage system at 1m cts at the rear of the excavation with drainage outlets through the facing panels. Retaining Solutions was also responsible for management of RSW backfill stockpile (21,500m3) which involved conditioning, loading ,cartage, haulage placement spreading & compaction with the reinforced earth zone (30t excavator/2 No. moxy’s and water cart). Due to imposed dead & live loads from bridge, REHas soil reinforcement was also attached to rear of headstock.

Ground Technologies was the successful field density and compaction testing consultant for the entirety of the earthworks operation. Retaining Solutions was also responsible for unloading, dynamic movement of proprietary system components from lay-down area to wall location.

A challenging feature of this subcontract was that the client installed the bridge deck prior to rewall installation. The use of a Franna was the ideal solution for installation of panels underneath the previously installed bridge deck. Hence finishing row of panels in front of the headstock were lifted using RSOLN 15t Franna and brought into their final position. A specifically engineering face lift anchor arrangement was used because conventional methods could not be adopted due to limited space under the box guiders. Once panels were in final position, panels were secured through to the abutment headstocks via M16 SS304 threaded rod anchors as per specialised engineering details. Flowable concrete (360m3) was also placed beneath the headstock where hand compaction could not be achieved.

Retaining Solutions produces with every wall complete, full quality documentation e.g Inspection & Test Plans, Daily Quality Verification Checklists in addition to detailed daily site diaries detailing operations and overall checks carried out over the duration of the wall construction from levelling pad placement to installation of finishing panels and associated draping of REHas to ensure adequate coverage below services/crash barrier footings etc. This level of documentation proving to be both beneficial to both developer/owner and Retaining Solutions. At the completion of every project Retaining Solutions issues the client with a “Construction Certificate” stating the method of construction conforms to the design requirements and R58 specification and the Proprietary System owners intended design.